


Fox in a Box

by CloveeD, skyshadedblue



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fox Kira, Fox Stiles, Gen, Implied Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Magic-Users, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Minor Scott McCall/Kira Yukimura, Zoo, Zoology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-12 09:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4474733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloveeD/pseuds/CloveeD, https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyshadedblue/pseuds/skyshadedblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kira goes missing, the last thing anyone expects is to find her trapped in the local zoo. In an exhibit. As a fox.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fox in a Box

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fic for [Teen Wolf Reverse Bang 2015](http://twreversebang.livejournal.com/)! It's my first time doing something like this and it's been super crazy, but I did it??? I actually did it. w o w o w o w wow
> 
> So shocker, a lot of this takes place at a zoo. Disclaimer: I have never worked at a zoo--but I've worked at an aquarium and also an amusement park with AZA accreditation (indirectly with animals+animal staff), and have an eclectic bank of trivia when it comes to animals, if that counts for anything? Prob not |D so if I got anything wrong, you can watch me wave it off as artistic license. /waves that license /makes it rain... fyi in general tho this fic is canon compliant- _ish_ up to S4 maybe, while reading this fic just make a hand wavey motion when anything isn't in line with the show.
> 
> And another thing: I'm always iffy about what to tag, but if I missed anything important, just hit me up.
> 
> Many humble thanks to: J, my reader (any mistakes left here are my fault), and Clovee ([](http://culacuuby.livejournal.com)culacuuby), my artist whose art ([dA](http://little-reed.deviantart.com/art/Of-Foxes-in-Boxes-550458696)) is the backbone of this story :3 and whose support without which I never would have finished this fic at all. Give her love, guys! ♥

Kira wakes up to her body rolling against a rough, wooden wall.

Little pinpricks of light appear against the pitch darkness.

"Move it inside!" a muffled voice says.

The box she's in--she's in a box, oh god--The box she's in jostles around like someone is picking it up and carrying her. Then--

"Oh, shit!"

She floats for a nanosecond, the floor of her prison literally dropping from underneath her, and bumps into the walls of the box again and again and again until--

_CRASH!_

Kira blinks, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the light. She lies in and under a pile of wood planks. There will definitely be bruises tomorrow.

"What the fuck, Johnson!? The sedative's wearing off soon, Jesus, if she's awake I will stab you in the throat I swear."

Johnson runs over and starts shoving the planks off her. She still can't move.

"It's fine, she's not going anywhere, look," he says, picking her up and holding her like a loaf of bread. Kira's head spins and she feels her body tense. Something about this doesn't feel right.

"Okay, good, now fucking put her in a new crate. Amy's been waiting for an hour already, time's a wastin'."

Johnson does as he's told and Kira doesn't have the strength to fight and run. She can barely keep her eyes open to see where they're taking her. With the click of the crate lock, she gives up.

When she wakes, she doesn't know how much time has passed. The crate door is wide open and she is immediately wary. She steps out slowly, one paw at a time--

Hold up.

Paw.

She looks down at herself.

White fur.

Kira jumps and tries to hold her head to keep her brain from imploding, but her paws only just reach and she topples over and rolls onto wet grass. _Oof!_

That's when she notices where she is. A gentle slope leads down to a wide and shallow stream. Across it is a short cliff-face with a sturdy wire fence spanning the length above it. Kira turns around and sees that the cliff traps her--it's not a cliff at all. She's in a large pit.

One wall on the side has a large window. A family with a stroller stops when they see her. They peer in for a quick glance and the dad bounces the baby in his arms to wave hello to her. Kira sprints over, stopping at the water. Right when she opens her mouth to ask them for help, a whine escapes her instead.

What she sees cannot be real.

She looks down at herself again, and back up to her reflection. It tilts its head when she tilts hers.

_Oh no._

-

Scott is a pacer.

He's definitely no amateur to pacing. Stiles knows that Scott could pace right up there with the pros. In fact, he's doing some Olympic-level pacing right now... and it is driving Stiles up the fucking wall.

Gently, Stiles says, "Scott... ol' buddy... ol' pal... I'm kind of working a bit of magic here. Literal magic, which requires some focus. On my part. So could you please...?"

Scott doesn't stop his steps even for a second. "Yeah."

"Oh my god, Scott, stop!"

Scott immediately runs to Stiles. "What? Did you find her? Did you feel anything? Is she okay?"

"Scott, no! I haven't found anything because I'm distracted. And you know what my distraction is?" Scott tilts his head and tentatively forms an answer, but before he can voice it, Stiles shouts, "It's you, Scott. Buddy. Bro. It is you! Least conducive thing to any mojo-making."

"But Kira could be dead!" Scott's stance is defensive. He turns away with a hunch in his shoulders.

Stiles considers giving him a moment, but time is of the essence.

"Look at me," Stiles says, tugging Scott to face him, holds him by the arms. "She. Is. Still. Alive. Do you understand me? Whatever happened, she's still alive. Just... Go find Derek, or get Isaac to make another round with you, make sure you didn't miss anything? We'll find her, no matter what."

Scott seems reluctant to leave him alone, like he's afraid Stiles might disappear too, but he nods, gives him a strong hug, and drags himself out of Stiles' room. Stiles feels a little like an asshole, but he gets it. He wants to find Kira as much as anyone else.

She's been out of contact for 20 hours, that they know of. Her parents have no idea where she's gone, she's not answering any texts or calls, and her phone is in fact completely off the grid. Stiles gets it. Scott is worried. So are the rest of them. Derek and Malia have been scenting the town limits for hours. There is literally no trail to follow. No trace. No tracks. And... as weak as Stiles' magic is, this is their last resort. He knows this needs to work.

The incense stick smokes slowly in its burner, the ash falling intermittently for every word of power he utters, for any hint, any little trace of Kira to come to him.

Stiles can feel it, the tiny wisps of her that he just can't get a hold on, like threading a needle through a pinprick sized eye. It just won't catch.

In the silence, he thinks of his friend and how much they all need Kira to be okay. They've lost so much already. Too much. The pack can't lose her too.

And then, his breath hitches. A light blooms from his chest and fills his head as a tendril of _something_ tugs at his body.

-

There's a burrow in the back corner that tunnels to the top of the stream along the fenced wall. The middle of the exhibit forms a knoll, a hollow log half-buried at the foot of it by the water. Brambles and piles of branches randomly cover some edges of the enclosure. It's a large and open area, relatively speaking.

Kira found a gate behind one of the back walls earlier, probably how the zoo people get in and out. She had frantically pounced at the latch, but she couldn't clear the height to unlock it. Not being human and all.

Seriously, she finds out a kitsune and not even a year later she's turning into an honest-to-god, literal fox. Could her life get any more difficult? No, don't think that. Murphy's Law would enact itself the moment she says it. Or thinks it. Don't think it, Kira. Just don't.

Really, the question she should be asking is how the heck she's going to get out of this. Her parents should realize that she's missing by now and they know she wouldn't just disappear willy nilly. Not Kira. She tried running away from home once when she was in second grade. She only got a block before she remembered that her parents would get lonely without her and had to trek her way back. And especially after last year with all the death and destruction, and dealing with demonic possession, everyone knows there's absolutely no way she'd just up and go. The pack will find her. She has faith that they'll do everything in their power to look for her.

A clink sounds at the gate.

Kira runs to hide in the undergrowth and a figure comes out with a bucket and a dogbowl. It's a woman dressed in a uniform polo with khaki pants. Like a regular zoo employee.

The woman leaves the bowl on the ground and from the bucket, she tosses little bits out into the grass.

Kira slowly comes out of hiding when the lady leaves. She comes across some of the bits that were strewn around--cherries and raisins. Walnuts, too. She sniffs at it, eats some of it realizing that she hasn't eaten since this whole thing started, and finds her way to the bowl. It contains a small portion of raw meat, the smell mouth-watering at this point, and Kira scarfs it down. It doesn't taste like any meat she's ever had, but she's also not possessing of human taste buds anymore. All that really matters is her belly is full, though she'll be hungry again soon. After a rest in her burrow, she'll go foraging for more enticing foodstuffs.

Kira jerks up. _I'm human._

Oh god, she's losing it. She needs to find a way out, and a way to change back. What did they want with her anyway? They were treating her like an actual fox at the zoo. There had been people gawking at her like an animal at the zoo. She isn't a real fox. She's human. She's human. Human...

Kira tries jumping at the gate again.

-

Stiles doesn't hesitate.

Okay, he hesitates a little bit. Zoo admission is twenty bucks and while Stiles is all for supporting wildlife conservation and all that jazz, let's be real. That is a super steep price.

He pays it though. Kira is in there--he feels the pull. Once it caught, he could only follow. Barely had the time to leave a message for Scott along the way.

Stiles really doesn't know where he expected to find Kira inside a zoo, but honestly...

He glares inside the exhibit. No movements, no trace of a presence. She's in there though. He knows it.

A flicker of white bursts from behind a log and rushes to the window. Stiles startles backwards, forgetting about the barrier, when suddenly a haze of blue washes over his vision.

Stiles shakes it off. The spell would only do that if...

"Kira!" He throws himself bodily at the glass. "Oh my god. You're--"

The little white fox yips and growls. She noses and claws fruitlessly in Stiles' direction.

"How do I--No, wait, what?" He crouches low to Kira's height. "What happened?"

Kira yowls in distress, but it's no use. Stiles doesn't speak fox.

"You can't change back", he surmises. "Of course. Why would anyone bother making this easy?" Stiles stands up, marches along the window, staring at Kira. He puts a hand to the window where Kira's paw is pressed.

"I've got it."

He calls Scott.

-

They're parked pretty conspicuously on the rear edge of the zoo property, but there aren't any people or cameras in sight to point them out. Lucky for them, this zoo can't necessarily afford better security.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Stiles rolls his eyes, mixing the last of his ingredients into a small bottle. "Do you have any better ones?"

Scott looks over to Derek. Derek, with his arms crossed and his mad-face on.

"I just need to get Kira out and Deaton will fix everything with a counterspell." Stiles shakes the potion like a mini cocktail. "If that doesn't work, at least she'll be out of danger. One problem, check!"

Derek says, deceptively calm, "There must be another way."

"Kira is a magical fox and our options are to break in and risk jail as humans, OR..." Stiles waves at himself with emphatic gesturing. "We have a cute, little fox sneak in practically undetected, and when they check the security footage, they'll see a furry fox freeing its other furry fox friend and not a human in sight. 'Sounds like a plan to me, Stiles!' Great, we're agreed! No other suggestions? Ideas? Questions? Okay!" Stiles considers the tincture in his hand only for a second and downs it before anyone can talk him out of it.

They all stand there for an awkward moment.

"Is it working?" Scott asks.

Stiles snorts. His reply hangs on the tip of his tongue when he cries out, a pain shooting up his spine. His back arches and he falls to his hands and knees on the ground.

"Stiles!" Derek drops beside him.

Stiles pushes him back before Derek can interfere. "I'm okay!" He groans and shuts his eyes tight. He feels his face stretch into a snout, and his canines form sharp points. His body contorts itself, reshapes itself. It hurts, and yet it doesn't, like a phantom chiropractor working out all the kinks. Worse before it gets better.

When it all stops, Stiles is in a heap on the ground, a dark haze surrounding him.

"Stiles, are you--are you there?" Scott's voice is pitched uncomfortably high, but Stiles follows it, shaking off the huge blanket covering him. _Where'd this blanket even come from anyway?_

He finally works himself free of the dark. Oh, not a blanket then... It's his clothes.

 _Scott, it worked!_ he means to say aloud, but it comes out in a series of indistinct yowls instead.

"Stiles, it worked!" Scott stands there in amazement and Derek is next to him, still on his knees. He's frowning now though, like he's worried. Stiles purrs and rubs his nose and cheek on Derek's thigh.

Derek sighs, scritching Stiles below his jaw and petting his head. "Be safe."

Scott looks at his watch. "If you're not back in an hour, we're coming in after you."

Stiles nods and gives Derek's hand a lick before bounding off.

-

Stiles climbs over a fence to a walkway leading into the back of the fox exhibit. He nearly falls and breaks his entire new and little body, unused to the agility of four legs.

Okay, so this plan is thus far not making out to be a good one, but it's not the worst either. Stiles counts it as a point in his favor. He's just a fox, prowling around to find an escape route for Kira without calling attention to the fact that some wily, crafty supernatural stuff is happening. No big.

He can hear literally everything. Sounds coming up from under the ground make him pause every few seconds; he has an overwhelming urge to dig down into the dirt and find out exactly what might be making them. Footfalls that are made by something small and cunning, soft pads across damp dirt--muted only by the hard, clomping steps of humans... growing harder and louder by the second.

Stiles, in a panic, leaps across the open walkway into the nearest building. Voices follow him. Frantically, he scans for a dark place to hide and sees the clutter under the steel counter. He burrows himself behind a box just in time before a woman steps inside.

"She's doing fine so far. Still adjusting to her new environment, but that's to be expected. I prepped the habitat myself and we've provided her with enrichment, so she should feel safe enough soon."

A man follows her in and Stiles' nose perks up at the variety of odors emanating from him. Heavy sweat, from... stress or fear. Chamomile, perhaps... Rosemary... A hint of jasmine... Stiles lifts his nose up to smell him better. Ground-up stone? Except, with a tang of something unfamiliar.

"It's awesome that you had the connections to get this transfer for us."

"I told you, Amy, it's not a problem at all. I just hope it helps raise the numbers for your department."

Stiles catches a scent that lights up his entire body, wants to roll around and drown himself in it all day long. It's almost magnetic, the way he's drawn towards it.

"I really don't know how to thank you." The woman, Amy, sets a tray that smells like raw meat on the counter above him and he hears her opening and closing cabinets along with the rattle of pills.

"Keep me updated on our new buddy, that's really it," the man says, bright and chipper and if Stiles were in human form, he'd snort at how forced the words were.

"Oh." Amy bends down slowly. Stiles stops in his tracks and looks up to see her looking straight at him. He doesn't even remember stepping out from behind the box. "How'd you get in here?"

He stands stock still, flashing through all his options. She keeps her distance fortunately, but the man takes a step forward, causing Stiles' muscles to tense and shift his gaze to him.

He knows it the moment their eyes meet.

Power.

_Magic._

What the shit.

The man takes another slow and dragging step. It gives Stiles the opening he needs and he sprints under the man, slipping to a slide out the door. He twists into a run and doesn't look back.

-

Hummingbirds flit in the tree leaves overhead, this way and that. Kira can hear the pacing of the cougars in the nearest enclosure to hers. Human feet clad in sturdy human shoes stomp loudly, with little care, on concrete and asphalt walkways. All the ambient little noises that lull her to a light doze after a full meal.

Her leftovers are freshly buried in a secret space where none of the other predators or scavengers can get to it, just in case she gets hungry and has a meager hunt.

She lies in the grass, a comfortable feeling telling her she's safe... She knows, deep in the recesses of her mind, that something is wrong, that there's something she's forgetting...

But the sun is bright and warm, and a pleasant breeze drifts against her fur.

-

Most of the property is paved, Stiles finds, the hard blacktop warm on a fortunately brisk day. The bush he's hiding in provides an added cool shade and cover.

Kira is close. Stiles can scent her territory from his position, but the question is if it's safe to get her out. He doesn't have much time. The staff are probably on the lookout for him, to make sure he doesn't spook or get spooked by the guests, and possibly breach the exhibits.

He circles the fox enclosure. There's a wire mesh fence along the back end of the exhibit, where he assumes the zoo staff enter and exit to feed Kira. He doesn't see her and emits sharp whining sounds. He doesn't think a human can hear him. There are other animals answering his call, and not all of them friendly, but he hasn't heard the reply he needs. Her scent covers the whole grounds, but she is nowhere to be seen.

A rustle comes from a low brush a few meters from the barrier. He barks sharply and catches a flash of dark eyes and white fur. She gives him a quick trill and cautiously treads her way towards him.

  
  
_Kira, it's me!_  
[image: Fox!Stiles excited to find fox!Kira, who is shocked at the sight; by [CloveeD](http://little-reed.deviantart.com/art/Of-Foxes-in-Boxes-550458696)]

_Kira, it's me! Okay, wow, I did_ not _think this part through._ Stiles really should have brought something to indicate that he was himself and not some random fox. Kira tilts her head in question and Stiles paces circles, chasing his tail in both the joy of having found her and the frustration of being unable to communicate with her. He looks around, wracking his brain for a plan, any little thing that would help. There's nothing but the human buildings that are probably being secured right now, this fence, and--

The gate! A regular fox wouldn't think about unlocking the gate. The latch is at a height unreachable to little foxes, but Stiles is no regular, little fox. He examines the wiring of the fence, the sturdiness of the U-latch, and scans the wall of the connected building on the right. A large tub of toys sits a few feet behind it. Perfect.

Stiles swiftly shoves the tub to the edge of the gate and hops up on it, and with the two feet of height gained, he uses his snout to push the latch open and the door swings out with a long squeak.

He jumps back down and yips at Kira to follow him, but she doesn't seem to understand, carefully pacing around him and the exit like some trap might be laid there for her. Stiles growls in exasperation, runs in and out of the barrier to show that no harm would come to her. _Come on!_ He yips again.

"There you are."

Stiles turns. Down the walkway to the left, the man with magic stands, relaxed and loose. Relieved. As if he'd been looking for his lost child instead of finding a magicked runaway fox helping another magicked fox out of her prison. Stiles bares his teeth, quickly growls one last time for Kira to follow. She tentatively comes out of the space.

"Wow, you're smart for a fox. Too smart," the man chides, walking closer. "But if you think I'm letting you get out of here with her, you're not _that_ smart." And he jumps Stiles, trapping him in with his arm. Stiles bites him and uses his momentary pain to twist out of his hold, tearing away a strip of his sleeve.

Stiles runs to Kira and motions for them to run the hell out of Dodge.

-

The red fox smells familiar.

He leads her away from her dens and she doesn't fully comprehend why. He doesn't have the qualities of a potential mate, but there is a scent. It's not the fox's own scent, but something almost inseparable from it. She decided to follow him out of the safety of home, but also away from the odd humans who offer no comfort in their heavy and unfamiliar odors.

The farther they run however, the stronger the scent of _mate_ grows heavy in her snout. The red fox is directing her to it and that's all she cares for right now. It isn't until they reach the outer limits of the boundaries that she sees the source of this wonderful fragrance and sprints at light speeds to bury herself in it. The moment he wraps his arms around her, fingers threading through her fur, she recalls.

_Scott._

-

They returned to the vet clinic, where Stiles hid in the bathroom for a few minutes as he reached his potion's limit and changed back into his regular, human self.

It had been a struggle leaving the zoo before anyone found them out. Kira refused to get in the car without Scott, finally settling only when he allowed her to lay on his lap as he drove. Stiles wasn't much better, following his instinct and taking advantage of his four-legged state to do the same to Derek. He supposes there was no rush though.

"What do you mean?" Kira's mom slams her fist on the steel table. "There's no way to change her back?"

Deaton, with all his zen calm, replies, "I didn't say that. But we haven't found a method to revert her back to her human state. Our best course of action is to find the caster of the spell and ask them to undo their work."

Stiles holds his arms close to his chest. "What? We just go in and ask, 'Hey, you turned our friend into an animal for some unknown, probably immoral reason, but we'd like her back, so could you please?'" He scoffs. "The guy's most likely a power-mad, lunatic wizard."

"I agree with Stiles," Derek says. "We can't approach him without some kind of leverage."

"That you agree with me worries me, but I'll take it. We _don't have the time_ to convince him to help us." Stiles looks down at Kira, who's nuzzling her mother's leg. "Kira is acting less and less like _Kira_ and more like fox."

"It's probable that that's one of the spell's components, to control her behavior," Deaton adds.

"That's all the more reason we can't play diplomats," Derek says. "A man who can do this..."

"... is dangerous."

Derek and Stiles look at each other with mirrored, dour expressions.

"In the event that this magic worker isn't cooperative, we can use means of force, but there's no need to go in guns blazing. I'm a certified veterinarian and also a zoo partner."

"This would have been good information to have..." Stiles stares at him pointedly, "... two hours ago."

"You hadn't informed me of what you were doing..." Deaton replies, "... two hours ago."

Vet's got jokes. And an annoying point.

Kira sticks close to Scott and Mr. Yukimura, circling their legs. "What do you propose?" Mr. Yukimura asks, worry etched on his forehead as he crouches down to rub behind Kira's ears.

Deaton looks to Stiles for a moment. "Stiles, can you recognize the magic worker?"

Stiles gnaws on his thumbnail. "Yes... but as a fox, I wasn't aware of his face. This is all I got from him." He picks up the small piece of fabric he'd torn from the man's shirt from where it had been sitting on the counter. Though his human nose can't sniff it out, the scent memory of the man comes into sharp focus. "His smell. It was... distinct. I was drawn out of my hiding place by his scent, like I couldn't help myself. Rosemary, jasmine, this weird crushed-asphalt smell--"

"Moonstone. With a tang of cinnamon, thyme, rose, vanilla, and," Noshiko keeps her gaze on Stiles and the piece in his hand, "your knees feel weak, but move of their own volition, as flies to honey."

Stiles eyes widen, dropping his arms to his sides. "Yes, how--What?"

Noshiko glides to stand shoulder to shoulder with her husband, stares at Deaton with a brow quirked in concern.

Deaton is the one to answer, "A weak white-magic spell meant to make others more susceptible to your desires."

"So, what does this all mean?" Scott asks.

"It means, we've found our leverage."

-

Things look different as a human versus as a fox, Stiles notices. Buildings feel much smaller, for one.

As do people.

_"Five-two-six to Lead."_

A tall, dark woman with thick hair, mousse-slicked into a low bun, takes out her radio and replies, "This is Lead."

The device crackles. _"Oscar and Lina ten-seven, Liz and Marcus ten-eight."_

"Ten-four." She tucks the radio back onto her belt and turns to Deaton. "I'm sorry for all the commotion, Alan. A code yellow went down yesterday and we've yet to give the all clear."

Deaton replies, "I understand, Amy, no need for apology. May I ask which exhibit it was?"

Amy - the very same Amy, Stiles is pretty sure - shakes her head. "The arctic fox. I just don't understand it."

Deaton, flanked by Scott and Stiles, follow her briskly down a backstage path towards the cougar exhibit. She's all of five-foot-seven, shorter than all of them, but with a deceptively long stride; it's a struggle to keep up with her. 

"What do you mean?" Scott asks, _not_ out of breath. God damn werewolves.

"It's weird," Amy says slowly, smoothing down her already neat hair. "Usually, if we have an escape, it's due to human error, or some odd happenstance that allows the animal to escape naturally, but when we checked the tapes..."

Stiles catches up as she slows her pace, sweat pooling in his clenched fists as he looks to Scott and Deaton.

"... One moment our fox was there, and the next she was gone, like someone edited it all out. There's no other evidence that the CCTV's have been tampered with though, so we can't say for sure that that's what happened."

Stiles and Scott glance at each other and Stiles shrugs, eyes wide.

"I hope it gets resolved soon," Deaton says.

A lukewarm mollification, in Stiles' opinion, but Amy smiles wanly in reply. "I hope so, too."

They reach the back end of the cougar building and Stiles takes a moment to watch her more closely. All the things he couldn't parse as a fox, he notices now. Like the strong set of her shoulders, her focused stare, and the way she stands tall. How her steps are best described as a march rather than a walk, her movements so precise that it leaves no room for excess.

"Thankfully," Amy continues, inspecting her keys for the right one, "Marcus's been helping me out with the search procedure while I supervise husbandry. It's nearly impossible to handle both since our last budget cut."

Scott tenses. Stiles eyes him, but Scott goes blank.

"Marcus... the one from San Diego?" Deaton asks.

"Yes, he's been one of the most passionate staff members we've had in years. I admire his zeal." She averts her eyes, an oddly loose slump in her posture, unlocking the door to let them into the corridor. " Here we go. Y'all can wait in the room while I get the caretaker to help me lead the cats in."

The three walk into the examination room, windowless and artificially bright, as Amy heads out without them. It's not until she's all the way down the hall and out of sight that Scott, with an unblinking stare directed out the door, finally says, "She's the one."

Stiles leans forward, suddenly and minutely aware that the room has only one viable exit route. "Are you sure?"

Scott turns to face them, eyebrows low and jaw tight. "When she mentioned Marcus, she radiated the same scent as that mix from the shirt. There's no doubt."

"So what now?" Stiles asks.

Scott looks over his shoulder. "He's here."

They stand there paralyzed as Amy turns the corner, a leash in hand and a cougar following close behind. A man with nut brown hair swept up in a topknot keeps pace with her, leading the other cat behind him.

Amy whistles at the pair of cats to go to their assigned corners for sedation as Deaton prepares to examine them. "Our caretaker wasn't there, but this is Marcus. I was just telling you about him." She smiles at him, fond and slack.

"Nice to meet you!"

If Stiles didn't know any better, he'd say that Marcus sounds extremely cheery, but the moment their eyes meet, Stiles sees the fear. And magic.

Marcus' eyes instantly glow white, raising his hand, and shouts with a flick of his fingers, " _Dormite!_ "

Stiles immediately throws a hand out like a shield. " _Vetare!_ " he yells, but it's not enough, everybody's knocked out. Deaton crashes down right with the cougars and Stiles reaches out and catches Scott right as he drops and then lowers him to the ground. Marcus has done the same with Amy, laying her down carefully.

"You've made a mistake," Marcus says with a low voice, standing up.

Stiles holds his hands out, a low-level symbol of surrender, as he stands to look Marcus eye to eye. "Let's talk this out like civilized wizards, alright, Marcus?" he says, steady. "I just want to help my friend. Who you turned into an animal. Against her will." He breathes in measured breaths, licks his lips and flits his eyes to Amy and back to Marcus.

"Of all the compatible vessels," Marcus groans, "I had to pick the one who knows a fucking magic worker." He runs his hands through his hair, massaging his temples with his thumbs. "I knew I should've left when you took her."

"Look, we don't have to make a big deal out of this." Stiles knows they're evenly matched, but they both know Marcus has something Stiles wants. _What am I doing? What do I need to do?_ "Just rescind your spell on Kira, and we won't have any problems." Stiles leans forward, but keeps his distance. "No harm, no foul."

Marcus bursts into a laugh and Stiles steps back. "Why would I do that!?"

 _Reasons! Think, Stiles, think!_ "Uh, you could lose your job?"

"I'm fucking magic, I don't _need_ this job."

 _Oh, fucking--duh._ Stiles could smack himself, he feels so stupid. "What about the reason why you're working here at all?"

"Wha-what reason are you referring to?"

Stiles keeps his eyes wide and honest, tilts his head for good measure. "Amy."

"I-I don't-I--"

Stiles continues, "I mean, you were already using a love potion on her, did you really need to take it that much farther, in the direction of abducting an innocent teenager?" Stiles grins too easily at the sight of Marcus fading to a pallor--reminds himself to stay poised. "You've gone through a lot of trouble to get here, I get that. I respect that. But I can guarantee the end result will be the opposite of everything you wanted."

Marcus' hands tremble, head bowed; he crosses his arms, shoving his hands in his armpits, falls back until he's against the wall.

Stiles stifles a sigh. He takes a chance and steps slowly toward Marcus, and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Amy liked you, you know. No magic involved."

"You don't know that."

"Marcus. I'm gonna lay down some truths for you." Stiles knows one wrong word and they're done. He can't mess this up, but... something about ripping off band-aids, right? "You're right. I don't know if she likes you." Stiles moves away when Marcus looks to him.

Geez, is that what he looked like when he was into Lydia? God forbid he ever made her feel uncomfortable with his adoration, but Stiles is sure he wasn't that far off the deep end when it came down to it, and he wasn't weird about it... Not weird like this anyway. And he definitely never had to feel guilty about it. _Jesus, how do I even begin to fix this?_

Marcus furrows his brows, pensive.

Stiles focuses on Marcus, entirely tuned to his reactions, "I bet you're a good person around her. A better person. The thing is, she could like you. But you keep up these lies, drugging her with potions--" Marcus turns his gaze towards Amy's unconscious form, stricken. "--and manipulating her with magic... how will either of you know what's real?"

"... I just wanted her to like me."

"Honestly, rejection is an option--take it from someone who's met rejection, multiple times from multiple people, me and rejection have weekly coffee dates we're such good buddies--but it can be a good thing. It's closure. Ka-chik, closed. Closure. Then, you have free reign to move on and open yourself to other options. Choices. Alternatives. That you kinda took away from--"

"I get it." Marcus glares and then pinches the bridge of his nose, the way Stiles does when he feels a migraine coming on from someone else's utter stupidity.

"--okay, shutting up."

There's a moment where Stiles thinks Marcus is going to vanish in a dramatic puff of smoke, slouching and hunching into himself, but the guy must have some scruples because he looks up straight at Stiles - one part shamed and another part browbeaten - and then says, "Fine."

-

The transformation from fox to human is like being splashed with a bucket of ice water. One minute, she's happily scenting her mother and the next, she's rolling around naked in a vet clinic smelling like musky fox.

So. Humiliating.

Luckily only her mom was there and she had a change of clothes for her. Derek and her dad were out picking up dinner and had gotten back after.

It could've been worse. Way worse.

Mom calls Scott to let everyone know Kira's human again and he tells her what went down. The guy that messed with her turned out to be a misguided wizard with a crush that got out of hand. If it hadn't been her, someone else could have been stuck as a fox for the rest of their sad fox life, with no one to save them. They wouldn't even be aware of what was taken away from them. She hadn't been.

Does this count as a lucky situation?

Scott hurries out of the car the moment it stops in the clinic's parking lot and right then, Kira forgets all those miserable thoughts. She sprints, jumps into his arms, and he spins her around in a whirlwind kiss. Since she changed back, her human skin has felt unsteady, crawling and unsettled like an ill fitting jacket, but the warmth of Scott's lips on hers anchors Kira back to herself.

Stiles and Deaton amble over in their own time and she pulls away to hug them too. Relief fills her chest. "You're alive!"

"We should be saying that to you." Stiles laughs, hugging her tight.

Derek comes up and joins in on it too.

Stiles smirks. "Yeah, okay, group hugs. That's a thing that happens now."

Much of her time as a fox is foggy and dim, but she remembers him as the red fox, alert and so aware and so like family, and his embrace embodies all of that. If anything, at least she knows no one can take this away--the instinct, the recognition of pack and family.

Her parents walk up behind them. "I'm very grateful for what you've done," Kira's mom says.

Her dad smiles, bringing Stiles in for his own hug. "Thank you."

Stiles doesn't say anything, and his smile is tight and weak, bashful. He looks to Kira and that's all she needs to give him another hug.

"We're safe."

**Author's Note:**

> ("Now that we're all people again, let's go eat!"
> 
> "Yeah, I'm starving! And it would be great to eat something that isn't bloody and raw." Kira remembers that part. Unfortunately.
> 
> "What kind of meat do they feed animals at zoos anyway?" asks Scott.
> 
> "Horse meat, usually," says Deaton, all too nonchalant.
> 
> Everyone pales at that, but no one more than Kira who swears off meat for a very long while. Maybe forever.)
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for reading~♥ Please leave a kudos and/or comment if you liked (: Visit Clovee's [tumblr](http://riceycloveed.tumblr.com/) and give her lots of love too! I also have a [tumblr](http://skyshadedblue.tumblr.com), though all you'll see are prob reblogs of anything and everything under the sun. There is no order. There is no god.
> 
> (I lie, there's some order. I tag. And Tyler Hoechlin and Dylan O'Brien exist and such perfection must be by design - right? - so there might be a god, idk lol)


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